1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and method for metering usage of a software application, feature or function by metering data usage in the data source for the application, feature or function.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is no method available to measure usage of software applications, features or functions, based on actions performed by the users of the application, feature or function.
Available usage-based billing and metering methods only consider hardware usage or have a fixed price subscription for software use during a specific period of time, without the ability to distinguish different usage scenarios or which applications, features or functions were actually used.
Those skilled in the art are aware that there are methods for measuring and reporting hardware consumption, e.g. amount of memory used, CPU execution time, uptime duration for the hardware and the resources reserved for physical or virtual environments. But hardware consumption or time-based usage is not an accurate measure to reflect actual business operations performed when each software application, feature or function is used.
Those skilled in the art are aware that hardware details are hidden from users of software application and features (rightfully so) and yet the usage of the applications, features or functions is reported based on hardware usage. They are also aware that with capacity-based, time-based, feature-based or pre-pay models, fees are charged based on the availability of the applications, features or functions for use during a specific period of time. These models lack the ability to measure and charge for actual usage of individual applications, features or functions.